Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 139, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Hygeia

Figure
ca. 1794-1795 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Figure of a young girl in biscuit soft-paste porcelain. She wears classical dress and stands on a circular base. With one hand she is clasping a dove to herself, while she looks down at a snake, which she holds out in her other hand, as it twines itself round her arm. A sheep is lying at her feet.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Hygeia (manufacturer's title)
  • Innnocence
Materials and techniques
Biscuit soft-paste porcelain
Brief description
Figure of Innocence or Hygeia, biscuit porcelain, Derby Porcelain Factory, Derby, ca. 1794-1795
Physical description
Figure of a young girl in biscuit soft-paste porcelain. She wears classical dress and stands on a circular base. With one hand she is clasping a dove to herself, while she looks down at a snake, which she holds out in her other hand, as it twines itself round her arm. A sheep is lying at her feet.
Dimensions
  • Height: 25cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'No 385' (Figure model number, incised)
Production
According to the Register T.P.P. Clifford noted that from its position in the old Derby Factory lists as model no. 385 this was probably introduced ca. 1794/5. Though many figures of this period can be attributed to the modellers J.J. Spängler or William Coffee, Timothy Clifford believed this piece to be modelled by a different hand and similar in style to a set of four plaster figures signed by Francis Hardenburg and dated 1805 at Heaton Hall, Lancashire. Brian Bricknell notes in his biography of William Coffee that 'with its incised figure 385 it is later than both Rossi and Hardenburg and suggests a date of about 1795 (or late 1794). He proposed that Coffee probably modelled it based on something Rossi did in 1788 and added that he added the dove and sheep in ignorance of Hygeia's story. The figure was originally dated ca. 1815-1820 when entered on the Collections Information System.
Collection
Accession number
C.59-1975

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Record createdAugust 14, 2008
Record URL
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